Draft Picks: Cats too have a rich history in brewing

When the customer showed up with a cardboard box at The Lost Abbey's tasting room just four months after the brewery had opened in San Diego, its contents were just what lead brewer Tomme Arthur and his staff needed.

In the time since Stone Brewing Co. had moved out and Lost Abbey moved in, rodents of all kinds had taken over the place. Seemingly unafraid of the brewing professionals, they would scamper around equipment, move between walls and get into whatever they could. So, the contents of the box - two black kittens who had been abandoned on the side of the freeway and picked up by the en route customer - were welcomed occupants.

The brother and sister were given the names Amarillo and Cascade and became full-time residents, but didn't get right down to work. So, while the kittens grew into their skin, an exterminator would come in and place sticky traps that were far from effective.

"Tomme would complain that all they do is eat, sleep and use the box," said a brewery spokesman. "Then we came in one morning to open the tasting room and there was a pile of little mouse bodies piled up. The next day there was a bigger pile. The day after that, even larger. Then, when the mice ran out, the rats began to pile up. Soon enough we were rodent free. The exterminator said the cats put him out of business."

While dogs often get the brewer's love - and their fair share of beers named after them - cats too have a rich history in brewing thanks to their mousing skills.

Karen Lawrence, a historian with the Cat Fancier' Association Foundation, said it was the growing of crops and harvesting of grains that domesticated cats in the first place.

"When nomadic tribes in Northern Africa settled and found fertile ground, they became farmers," she said. "Anytime you get grain in storage you're going to get a resulting rodent problem, and the cats just moved right in."

Cats - descendants of African wild cats - as we know them today, spread throughout the world, honing their effective rodent elimination techniques.

Cats have just come accustomed to hanging out at breweries because it is a reliable place for grain storage and their rodent nemeses. Appreciative owners have reciprocated for pest elimination with other creature comforts that perfectly suit a cat's nature.

The Lost Abbey has a sister business named Port Brewing Co. and for followers of the brand, they offer an imperial India Pale Ale. On the label is a drawing of a gray surfing cat. This is Mongo, a son of Cascade, who was "just a large and obnoxious kitten" and managed to get into equipment, in the way, and be a general annoyance to the brewers who went to great lengths to keep the curious cat safe, said the spokesman.

Soon enough, he endeared himself to the staff, and the brewers learned to just work around the cat.

"He got into every dangerous situation, the cat had no fear," he said. "Mongo became the unofficial mascot."

Then one morning the staff arrived and found the feline dead on the pavement. He was only 6 months old, had no obvious wounds but had used up his nine lives. he brewers were bummed and decided to create the imperial IPA in his honor.

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Draft Picks: Cats too have a rich history in brewing

When the customer showed up with a cardboard box at The Lost Abbey's tasting room just four months after the brewery had opened in San Diego, its contents were just what lead brewer Tomme Arthur and

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